Search FQXi


Current Essay Contest

Introduction

FAQ

Top essays & latest news

Coming soon: Read, discuss, and vote on essay submissions

Previous Contests

Is Reality Digital or Analog?
November 2010 - February 2011
read/discusswinners

What's Ultimately Possible in Physics?
May - October 2009
read/discusswinners

The Nature of Time
August - December 2008
read/discusswinners

Forum Home
Introduction
Terms of Use

Order posts by:
 chronological order
 most recent first

Posts by the author are highlighted in orange; posts by FQXi Members are highlighted in blue.

By using the FQXi Forum, you acknowledge reading and agree to abide by the Terms of Use

 RSS feed | RSS help
FQXi FORUM
May 25, 2012

CATEGORY: FQXi Essay Contest - Is Reality Digital or Analog? [back]
TOPIC: "Is Reality Digital or Analog?" by Mary Magdalene Bates [refresh]
Bookmark and Share

Author Mary Magdalene Bates wrote on Jan. 12, 2011 @ 15:37 GMT
Essay Abstract

see paper...

Author Bio

My name is Mary Magdalene Bates. I'm a 34 year old college student who has an interest in cosmology and space science. I thought it would be fun to try and answer the questions which this essay contest poses.

Download Essay PDF File

report post as inappropriate


Peter Jackson wrote on Jan. 19, 2011 @ 20:03 GMT
Hi Mary

Short, sweet and seems almost simple enough to be correct. Are you studying physics? I see a lot of 'standard meaningless indoctrination' creeping in to confuse a perceptive mind. If you feel you can take three steps back to give a new overview and look for a simpler coherent reality do have a read of mine (2020 vision). I'd be very interested in the views of someone not fully 'conditioned' yet. (But you might not want to include it in exam answers if you want to pass!)

Best regards

Peter

report post as inappropriate

Mary replied on Jan. 21, 2011 @ 16:25 GMT
Peter,

Thanks for the response! I'm not studying physics, but I'm drawn to it. Yes, my essay was very short & sweet, because I kinda threw it together in about 1 hour.

I look forward to reading more essays on this subect that can delve into the bigger picture of the differnce between whether reality is digital or analog. What's your opinion?

P.S. Please include a link to your paper (2020 Vision), I would love to read it and give some feedback!

report post as inappropriate

Georgina Parry replied on Feb. 10, 2011 @ 21:49 GMT
Hi Mary,

just to let you know I have read your essay. It was short, not rigorously argued or polished, but you admit to knocking it out in about 1 hour. Which is quite a remarkable achievement. It was also brave of you to enter as a fellow female non specialist putting forward novel ideas. Well done.I did enjoy reading it.

report post as inappropriate

reply to this thread


James Lee Hoover wrote on Feb. 21, 2011 @ 23:32 GMT
Hi Mary,

Short and to the point. I discovered this contest some 8 days ago and put together a short entry myself.

Did you read Ian O'Neill's "Are We Living in a Hologram"?

Thought of that while reading your essay.

Jim Hoover

report post as inappropriate

reply to this thread


Peter Jackson wrote on Mar. 1, 2011 @ 15:35 GMT
Mary

Thanks for your response and interest. Look under the sir names list for mine, or direct link; http://fqxi.org/community/forum/topic/803 If you'd like something a little further advanced go to; http://vixra.org/abs/1102.0016 And please don't forget to give the essay a top score if you like it! I certainly think you should be a little higher even if it did only take an hour! The link above is to a paper that only took 2.25hrs! but admittedly from another being submitted for publication. But read the essay carefully and take in the logic as you go to find the holy grail!

You ask my view, which is that the analogue wave based continuum, or 'condensate' is what condensed matter, or discrete particles arise from, but they only arise with perturbation or to implement change. (at inertial filed boundaries, which are identified as plasma Halo's shocks, clouds and fine structure ions. All far more logical and reality based than recent physics.

Very best wishes.

report post as inappropriate

reply to this thread


Paul Halpern wrote on Mar. 11, 2011 @ 18:21 GMT
Dear Mary,

I enjoyed reading your essay.

Interesting references to extra dimensions. Einstein explored the idea of a fifth dimension throughout the 1930s. He reportedly once remarked to his research assistants that he thought that an overdetermined set of field equations could produce a restriction of solutions similar to the discrete range in quantum mechanics. It is a fascinating question whether or not there are extra dimensions.

Best wishes,

Paul

Paul Halpern, The Discreet Charm of the Discrete

report post as inappropriate

reply to this thread


Author Yuri Danoyan+ wrote on Mar. 12, 2011 @ 09:32 GMT
To my investigation also time is illusion

http://www.fqxi.org/community/forum/topic/946

report post as inappropriate

reply to this thread


Constantinos Ragazas wrote on Mar. 15, 2011 @ 17:05 GMT
Dear Mary,

I enjoyed reading your most creative and original essay. What binds us together is our passion to understand this mystery we call Reality. Though we may differ in some details, we agree that this is inspiring and worthwhile pursuit. To paraphrase an ancient Greek saying, “an unexamined Universe is not worth having!”

The main purpose to my essay is to bring greater 'physical realism' to the strange mathematical abstractions of theoretical physics. I start with the original assumptions lying deep in the very roots of Quantum Physics -- the derivation of Planck's Law for blackbody radiation using 'energy quanta'. In my essay I show that the 'quantization of energy hypothesis' is just not necessary. We can have 'continuity' and 'discreteness' too! Just few days ago I posted a mathematical proof of the following proposition: “If the speed of light is constant, then light is a wave” . This also argues against the 'photon hypothesis' and the corpuscular view of light.

My results are all iconoclastic and all mathematically argued. I am asking for your support to place these results before the panel of experts for a serious review. Can I count on you?

Best wishes,

Constantinos

report post as inappropriate

reply to this thread


Add a New Post
  • Please enter the text of your post, then click the "Submit New Post" button below. You may also optionally add file attachments below before submitting your edits.

  • HTML tags are not permitted in posts, and will automatically be stripped out. Links to other web sites are permitted. For instructions on how to add links, please read the link help page.

  • You may use superscript (10100) and subscript (A2) using [sup]...[/sup] and [sub]...[/sub] tags.

  • You may also include LateX equations into your post.

Insert LaTeX Equation [hide]

LaTeX equations may be displayed in FQXi Forum posts by including them within [equation]...[/equation] tags. You may type your equation directly into your post, or use the LaTeX Equation Preview feature below to see how your equation will render (this is recommended).

For more help on LaTeX, please see the LaTeX Project Home Page.

LaTeX Equation Preview



preview equation
clear equation
insert equation into post at cursor


Your name: (optional)



Important: In order to combat spam, please select the letter in this menu between 'C' and 'E':





Please enter your e-mail address: